In honor of Women’s History Month, I interviewed a role model of mine (and I’m not just saying that because she used to be my boss at Scholastic). Author Sue Macy has published 15 children's books about women in sports and journalism, including her latest book: MISS MARY REPORTING: THE TRUE STORY OF SPORTSWRITER MARY GARBER (Paula Wiseman, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016). Sue shared some bits of wisdom & inspiration with KidLitTakeaways (KLT). PLUS, she’s offering a signed copy of her new book to one lucky winner. See details below!
 
KLT: You’ve written about many female athletes. What inspired you to go behind the scenes and write about Mary Garber—a female sports reporter?
SM: It’s easy for me to identify with Mary because she wrote about sports. Sports were her passion. On the playing field, you have all of the human emotions concentrated around an event. Mary felt that it was just as important to write about the losers as the winners. Nowadays everything is about winning, but there are textures and defining moments that an athlete can go through by losing the game or by missing the final field goal. So I love that Mary saw sports for more than just a tally of points at the end of an event. She wrote about the human side of sports. Also, she was born in Ridgewood, NJ, although she grew up in North Carolina. I identify with the Jersey Girl aspect. And she followed her passion for over 50 years, which is amazing.
 
KLT: How did you first learn about Mary and her career?
SM: When I started writing books 20 years ago, there wasn’t much written about women in sports. One anthology I read had a speech that Mary had given about women in sports, so I knew who she was and filed her away as someone worth knowing about.
 
KLT: What made you decide that Mary’s story would appeal to kids and make a great picture book?
SM: I thought she was a real character. The best picture book character is someone who is colorful and memorable. Mary was small, about five feet tall, and she was writing about basketball and football players and other huge athletes, so I imagined the visual contrast. I also thought that the arc of her life—how she conducted herself in an all-male arena and broke barriers—lent itself to a picture book audience.
 
KLT: Mary began her writing career back in 1940. Describe your research process.
SM: I had great fun researching the book. I travelled to Winston-Salem, NC, where Mary worked, and did research at the public library. The library has a North Carolina Room, with drawers and drawers of old-fashioned microfilm of all the local newspapers. So I started picking out reels from random years of Mary’s career. I made sure I got a couple from each decade. I didn’t read everything she wrote, but I got a really good sampling of the scope of her career. I found out that her favorite sport to write about was tennis, but she also wrote about everything from marbles to track and field and the soapbox derby.
 
KLT: What other gems did you discover?
SM: The librarian who works in the North Carolina Room, Fambrough “Fam” Brownlee, had played high school sports in Winston-Salem and knew Miss Mary. So I had the opportunity to speak to someone who knew her personally.
 
KLT: You also wrote about one of Mary’s role models, Jackie Robinson—a biography within a biography. How did that come about?
SM: I read in an obituary about Mary (who passed away at the age off 92 in 2008) that she admired and wrote about Jackie Robinson. Her newspaper wasn’t indexed, and my eyes hurt going through all those microfilms, but I found her article about a Brooklyn Dodgers game that she attended in 1947. I also found a wonderful column that she wrote in 1956 looking back at Robinson’s career and why he was so important to her and to baseball as the first African-American player in the 20th century. “It takes guts to keep your mouth shut and walk away,” Mary wrote about Robinson’s reaction to the some fans’ biased reactions toward him. “It is against every normal reaction of human behavior. But Robinson did it.” I wasn’t going to leave North Carolina until I found that.
 
KLT: Tell us about the path to publishing for MISS MARY REPORTING. Do you have an agent?
SM: Not currently. Editor Sylvie Frank had edited my book ROLLER DERBY RIVALS at Holiday House (2014). When Sylvie moved to Paula Wiseman Books, she called me and said, “I’m starting a new job. Let’s have lunch.” That’s the best possible call you could ever get as a writer! I pitched some ideas to Sylvie over lunch. But when I got to the idea of MISS MARY, I could tell…I was speaking emotionally. When an idea comes from somewhere deep inside you, it’s meant to be. It’s authentic in the best way possible. Sylvie loved it. It was the most seamless process I’ve had in all 15 books that I’ve done. Anything that starts with food ends up being a winner!
 
KLT: MISS MARY’s illustrations are stunning (and those eyeglasses!). Were you involved in choosing the illustrator, C.F. Payne?
SM: C.F. Payne is a #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator. The publisher chose him and I was thrilled. I did have some input when the sketches came in. I also sent him some photos of Mary and I found a press badge from that era on ebay that says, “Women and children not admitted,” which I shared with him.
 
KLT: What are some takeaways for aspiring authors (who may not yet have lunch invitations from editors)?
SM: Go to conferences! It’s important to network and meet people. As for the writing, for me it’s always about the passion. The more passion I have for a subject, the more fluently the writing goes and sometimes the more salable the manuscript is. If an editor sees that you’re really passionate about the story, there’s a better chance that he or she is going to listen to you.

Thank you, Sue, for the great advice and inspiration! Sue is generously offering a GIVEAWAY—a signed copy of MISS MARY REPORTING to one lucky reader. Rafflecopter details below Sue's bio!


 
​

About Sue Macy
Sue Macy has written more than a dozen nonfiction books for young readers, including sports-based picture books, middle grade biographies, and young adult social histories focusing on women's sports, the Olympic Games, and the early impact of the bicycle and (forthcoming) the automobile on women's lives. In her previous life, she was an editor and editorial director of educational magazines at Scholastic and other publishers. She lives in Englewood, NJ, and can be reached through her Web site, suemacy.com, or Twitter @suemacy1.

​Every experienced children's writer I've met has recommended joining a critique group. I couldn't agree more. Fellow kid lit writers pump up the humor and heart in our stories, highlight things that are missing or need to be changed, and add to our stories in countless ways. But there's another reason why being in a critique group and surrounding oneself with other children's writers is absolutely essential: We understand one another!

I recently read my new story to a non-writer friend who kindly responded, "That's cute." When I shared the same story with fellow kid lit writers, they loved the story, understood how much hard work went into writing the draft, and appreciated my word choices. Children's writers are kindred spirits. We think alike and have a shared world view. Like kids, we notice the little things in life. The silly, ludicrous events. The out-of-the-ordinary facial expressions and mannerisms. Stuff that makes great picture books.

We are the adults in the bookstores and libraries, surrounded with kids' books instead of adult novels, even when we don't have kids in tow. Children's books line our bookshelves at home— beyond our kids' collections. We scatter little bits of paper with story ideas around our cars and houses. We're just different! And we need other people like us to share our ideas and passion.

So if you haven't already, partner up with other picture book writers. Join a critique group. Find a fellow writer-pal to brainstorm ideas. Doing so will give you a sense of camaraderie and mutual understanding and make the long ride to publication a joyful one.

The Takeaway: Partner up and keep writing!

​

                                                                
By Chana Stiefel
In our previous posts, we mentioned the first P's of picture book success: passion, persistence, professionalism, & the importance of play. To continue on your path, you'll also need these P's.

Patience.  Remember how your mom or dad would rush you out the door in the morning and then you would wait, and wait, and wait for the school bus? Publishing is like that. You work like mad to send out stories. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. For days, weeks, months, sometimes years. You wait for agents and editors to respond (which sometimes never happens). You ask yourself: Should I write them back? Sometimes you get a call for revisions. Then you wait again. Even when your manuscript is accepted (hooray!), you wait. You wait for a contract, you wait for an advance, you wait to hear who your illustrator will be, you wait for sketches, you wait…How long? Expect at least two years from acceptance to publication. So yes, patience is very high up on the list of P’s. Know that patience pays off. And don’t just sit there waiting patiently! Keep writing!

Peer review. As writers, we are often married to our work. We love it dearly and we don’t want anyone else to mess with it. But I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting outside opinions before you submit. By “outside,” I not only mean outside your home, family, and friends. But outside your comfort zone. As I once heard a college admissions officer tell prospective students, "Have someone who doesn't love you read your essay." Same for kidlit! If you haven’t already, join a picture book (or kidlit) critique group. Not only will you get honest feedback and editing advice, but you’ll also find tremendous support and create new friendships. I met my co-blogger Donna Cangelosi at a NJSCWBI conference and she invited me to join her PB group. It was one of the best decisions I ever made! For tips on finding a critique group, join SCBWI and check out the regional pages. Joining kidlit writers' groups on Facebook is another great way to find a peer group.

Practice, practice, practice. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Or Macmillan or Scholastic or Penguin? Practice, of course. You wouldn’t expect an artist to scribble on a napkin and hang his drawing at the MoMA. (Actually, my dad tried that once. It didn’t go over well with the guard.) Real artists go through buckets and buckets of paint before they achieve success. I recently read an article about Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible. She said that she often bakes a cake 17 times—measuring and testing every ingredient before she can say it’s perfect. Now I would totally eat Beranbaum’s 17 mess ups, but it’s good to know how much work went into her recipes. Your book is like a cake…you gotta go through the mess-ups to reach perfection.

Today’s takeaway: Patience, peer review, and practice, practice, practice get you closer to the prize!
More P’s to come! Please share your P’s (and Q’s) here!